


Lonely Little Ghost Boy

by hopelessrabbit



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, percy jackson - Fandom
Genre: M/M, pjo spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:08:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1218859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopelessrabbit/pseuds/hopelessrabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even the strongest people need to let their emotions out every so often...</p>
<p>***Watch out for PJO Spoilers!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lonely Little Ghost Boy

                Broken.

                Alone.

                Neglected.

                Nico sat on a large rock by the lake bank as moonlight shone down on him. Artemis brought out the moon each night, allowing darkness to fall over the land. When at Camp Half-Blood, it always seemed to shine brighter. Perhaps it illuminated the camp in favor of the heroes and demigods as a tribute to all the demigods who risked their lives to help the gods and goddesses.

                Being a son of Hades, he naturally was a night owl. The silence and darkness of the night gave him the benefit. Even the moonlight made him more comfortable as travelled through shadows and walked along city streets at night simply wandering around as he had no certain home.

                Though he was a son of Hades, it was not always easy to escape the pain that comes with the feeling of lonesomeness that constantly consumed him. After all, he was raised with his sister all his life. She always watched over him and stayed with him, holding his hand when he needed the support desperately. She was his guide, the light that kept him steady and on his feet. With her, there was nothing he could not do. He had grown to love her very much so as she was the only family member that he could recognize. She stayed with him even when there was a lack of parental figures as far as he could remember. She was his rock.

                Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever. After his death, it was like his whole world had shattered in a moment of breathless devastation. The light that kept him safe and sound had been shut off completely. She was gone, and so were the spirits that once made him seem like a cheerful, grateful young boy.

                The loneliness was tragic. He had been left alone. He was forced into an early maturity in which all he had was himself. He acted as though he needed nothing, as though the dark was enough to comfort him and fill the empty whole inside him. Though, there was an issue with that theory. Darkness and death was unable to love. It brought nothing but depression and devastation.

                In the end, he was nothing but a child of Hades. His father had already passed his dreadful reputation onto Nico. He was born into a life that would be filled of solitude and emptiness. He was born to become an outcast later. Some nights he felt as though there was no point to his life. He was not going to grow up to be some sort of hero that all the gods favored and spoke about in the future. No, all children of Hades were bound to become the bad guys in stories. He was not the prince charming. He was the beast, locked alone in his own makeshift world of solitude and having only himself to rely upon. Perhaps the dark never bothered him, but the loneliness was nothing shy of his worst nightmare.

                At the moment, sitting on that rock in an area that was hardly illuminated, he decided that he could not hold it in. He did not care at this point. He let it all out, bringing his knees up to his face and wrapping his arms around his legs and he sobbed into them, sniffling and gasping for air.

                He was sick of being an outcast. He was sick of living in solitude. All he knew what to do was push people away. It was so hard to let them in, to let them see the real him and his world full of darkness and distortion. The tears seemed to fall for at least an hour or so before he suddenly felt a hand start rubbing his back.

                Surprised, Nico lifted his head out of his knees and tried to blink back the rest of his tears. Standing in front of him was none other than Percy Jackson. He had a concerned expression on his face, and he was biting his lip and carefully rubbing Nico’s back in slow, soothing motions. Nico wiped his face off and tried to level his voice so it did not sound as shaky as he felt. “What do you want?” he asked, trying to sound indifferent.

                “You don’t have to pretend you’re alright.” Percy replied softly. He reached up and swiped away a tear that was slowly falling down Nico’s pale cheek. “It’s obvious you were just crying.”

                “Go away.” Nico demanded, his voice accidentally faltering. He looked away, not being able to look Percy in the eyes as he was rather ashamed that he was showing such weakness and vulnerability in front of him. “I don’t need you.”

                Percy sighed and sat down on the rock next to Nico and continued to try to sooth him. “You don’t have to lie. And you don’t have to pretend like you’re tough in front of me.” Nico remained quiet, staring daggers into a nearby tree while trying to hold back the emotions that were stirring inside of him like a hurricane of dark clouds. “Even I have moments where I totally break down. Well...it was more often than sometimes. Though, it doesn’t mean you’re weak. It just means that you’ve got something that you need to let out.” Nico stayed silent, admittedly surprised that Percy was trying to comfort him. Surely the hero could be off sleeping or even taking a late night walk with somebody who admired him. It was strange that he would waste time here trying to help the broken little soldier boy who everyone tried to avoid.

                 “It hurts to be so alone.” Nico admitted, tears beginning to fall again. He looked at Percy, giving up on trying to hide the fact he was so sad at the moment. Percy was a persistent guy, and Nico knew better than to expect him to just stand down anyway.  “It makes me ache inside to know that I will always be that son of Hades who always stood alone and was never loved. Even when hopelessly falling for some stupid person, he ended up getting crushed in the end. He couldn’t ever save his own sister from her death. He was just some stupid kid who never did anything important.”

                Percy studied his face for a few seconds. “I really am sorry you feel that way. I might not be the best at comforting people, but just know that I’m here, alright?” He paused, glancing at the water. He looked like he suddenly realized something and hoped off the rock before turning to Nico. He extended his arm, gesturing for Nico to take it. “Come here. Let me try to help with something I think I can handle.” Nico hesitated for a second, glancing at the hand in front of him. With a sigh, he took it and hopped off the rock as Percy led him to the bank of the lake. Percy took a deep breath and raised his head and Nico watched the water shiver for a few seconds before lifting up.

                Percy had been summoning the water to move. The water formed into different figures and the water seemed to be dancing under the influence of Percy. Percy created liquid figures of swans and even the gods. Apollo and Artemis stood back to back, shooting liquid arrows from their bows. Hermes flew using his fluttering shoes. Aphrodite swayed in a dress and created a liquid heart by blowing a kiss towards the two boys on the bank.

                Next, Percy created Nico with the water. His water self walked around and swung his weapon with agility. Next, another figure appeared beside him. It was a water version of Percy. He took Nico’s hand and they ended up floating even higher before combining into one liquid spout and falling back into the lake. Percy let a breath out and grinned over at Nico.

                Nico was quiet for a few moments, feeling something stirring inside. Percy had gone through all this just to make Nico feel better. His mind reeled, wondering why Percy even cared. Though, his thoughts were interrupted when Percy’s grip on Nico’s hand tightened slightly. Brought out of his daze of swarming thoughts, Nico glanced up at Percy. The boy looked even more handsome in the light glow of the moonlight. Percy smiled down at Nico.

                “Did that help, Ghost King?” Percy asked in a playful tone, raising an eyebrow hopefully. Nico nodded his head slowly.

                “Yeah,” He replied. “It actually did. Thanks, I guess.” Percy nodded. Nico expected Percy to let go of his hand then. Though, after a few seconds of silence it was palpable that Percy was not going to. Instead, Percy stared down at Nico intently. Nico stared back, wondering what exactly he was supposed to do at this point.

                In a moment of breathless delight, Percy leaned down and kissed Nico on the forehead. Nico was taken aback. His eyes widened and his face even flushed, not that he would admit it. He hoped the moonlight would hide the dusting of red that was certainly tinting his cheeks.

                “You aren’t totally alone.” Percy announced. His next words came out as a whisper. “I’m here for you, Nico. And I intend on staying here for you.”

                Nico almost burst into tears. Though, this time the tears would surely not have been out of sadness. Rather, the tears would have been out of adoration and joy. Maybe all he needed was a light to warm up his blackened heart. All he needed was a light to scare away the monsters of darkness that plagued his mind. Percy was most certainly going to be that light.


End file.
